Heroism
| rarity = Common | type = Unit Enchantment | casting_cost = | combat_casting_cost = | upkeep_cost = | research_cost = | effects = Target Normal Unit's or Hero's Experience Level is raised to "Elite" (or "Commander", for Heroes), with all the accompanying bonuses applied. The unit remains at this level as long as Heroism is in effect. When the unit gets 120 Experience Points - enough to reach "Elite" (or "Commander") level on its own merits - the spell dissipates. }} Heroism is a Common Unit Enchantment belonging to the realm. For it may be cast on a friendly Normal Unit or Hero on the overland map to bump that unit's Experience Level up to "Elite". The unit receives all bonuses it would normally get from this Experience level. The unit continues to accumulate Experience points, and once it has 120 of them it will be promoted to a "true" Elite unit, and the spell dissipates immediately. To keep an overland version of Heroism in play, an Upkeep Cost of per turn must be paid. Alternatively, a cheaper version of the same spell may be cast for during combat, in which case it will temporarily bestow the same bonus on a unit for the duration of the battle (with no permanent effects or upkeep costs). Effects Heroism inspires a Normal Unit or Hero with mystical knowledge of combat, allowing it to behave as though it has seen plenty of combat - making the unit "Elite". Experience Level Bonus When Heroism is cast on a Normal Unit, it will instantly raise that unit's to "Elite". The spell may also be cast on a Hero, raising his/her level to the corresponding level of "Commander". The unit will maintain this new experience level as long as the spell is in effect. The unit immediately receives all bonuses associated with its new Elite/Commander level, and will appear for all intents and purposes to be Elite. This can be a significant boost to the unit's combat performance. Heroes in particular tend to benefit from this spell. For one, the basic bonuses they get from Commander level are very high, and also many of their abilities increase in strength as their level goes up. A good, simple example is Agility, an ability that increases the Hero's Defense score by for each level he has. With Heroism, such a Hero would get from Agility, since "Commander" is the . Dissipation When Heroism dissipates for any reason, the unit is returned to its normal experience level - based on how many the unit has at that time. Note that the unit does not cease to gain Experience points while under Heroism's effect, so when Heroism dissipates the unit might return to a higher level than it originally had when the spell was cast. Example :A Normal Unit has (having an Experience Level of "Recruit"). It then has Heroism cast on it. :While the spell is in effect, the unit is considered to be of "Elite" level, and gains all the bonuses it would have gotten by reaching that level naturally. However, it continues to accumulate Experience Points as normal, whether through battles or simply by surviving from turn to turn. :After 20 turns, Heroism is dispelled by an enemy wizard. The unit then returns to whatever level corresponds with the amount of Experience Points it currently has. :Since 20 turns have passed, the unit has accumulated in the interim. This means that it now returns not to "Recruit" level but to "Regular" level - as that corresponds to 20 Experience Points. Natural Dissipation Because the unit continues to accumulate Experience Points while Heroism is in effect, it will eventually reach "Elite" level on its own. This occurs at exactly , whether for Normal Units or for Heroes. At that point, Heroism no longer has any benefit: the unit will still be "Elite" even if the spell was removed. Fortunately, instead of forcing you to keep an eye on each enchanted unit to see whether you need to keep Heroism on it, the game automatically dispels the Heroism effect for you! The unit simply becomes Elite on its own, and the spell goes away. Heroism, Crusade and Warlord Master of Magic has three primary ways to affect a unit's Experience Level. They are Heroism (as discussed above), Crusade (a Global Enchantment) and Warlord (a Retort). The interaction between these is important, especially when it comes to the effects of Heroism itself. As explained above, when neither Crusade nor Warlord are in effect, Heroism will raise the unit's Experience Level to "Elite", giving it all the bonuses associated with that level. Heroism is automatically dispelled when the unit accumulates . While either Crusade or Warlord (or both) are in effect, Heroism on any friendly unit is applied first - before Crusade and/or Warlord increase it by an extra +1 level, as they do to all friendly units. Therefore, while either of these effects is in play, and Heroism is cast on a unit, the unit's Experience Level is raised to "Elite" by Heroism, and then increased to "Ultra-Elite" by Crusade or Warlord. The unit enjoys the bonuses from "Ultra-Elite" level while the spell is in effect. Heroism will be dispelled automatically if the unit reaches 120 Experience Points. If both Crusade and Warlord are in effect, casting Heroism on a unit will raise its Experience Level to "Champion" in the same manner. Again, the unit will enjoy the benefits of this level, and Heroism is automatically dispelled when the unit acquires 120 Experience Points. If the combat version of Heroism is used, it does not calculate bonuses from Crusade and Warlord. This means that "Elite" is the highest Experience Level that Heroism will grant in combat. Usage was to dissipate, this unit would revert to "Recruit" level.]] The spell may be cast during combat for the rather low Casting Cost of . In this case, the spell will only affect the targeted unit until the end of the battle - at which point it will dissipate. Alternatively, Heroism may be cast on the overland map for a lasting effect. In this case it has a base Casting Cost of , and requires an Upkeep Cost of per turn to maintain. Failure to pay this Upkeep Cost due to lack of Mana will cause the spell to dissipate. However, as long as the spell is paid for (and not dispelled by any rival Wizard), the unit continues to enjoy its bonus. Heroism may only be cast on friendly Normal Units or Heroes. If the desired target is in an overland army stack, click on that stack to get a list of units inside it, and then select your desired unit. Note that although the spell may be cast on units that already have (and are thus already at "Elite" level), this will do nothing: the spell will dissipate immediately, wasting its Casting Cost entirely. Also note that during battle, Heroism may not be cast on any units mutated by the Chaos Channels spell. Nonetheless you may target these units freely on the overland map, and the effects will carry into combat. The Undead are not valid targets in either case. Once the spell is in effect, the unit will glow with a aura, unless there is a more powerful spell also affecting it. The unit will also show three silver pips in the army stack panel, indicating that it is Elite. The unit's details panel will also show that the unit is Elite, but will continue to track and display the unit's accumulated Experience Points, so that you can figure out what level the unit would have if the spell was to be removed. If you've placed Heroism on a unit, you may remove it by examining the unit's details and clicking the Enchantment's icon. The primary reason to do this would be in order to remove the spell's Upkeep Cost, thus conserving for other spells. Acquisition As a Common spell, Heroism may become available to any Wizard who possesses at least one Spellbook. However, its availability during the game is not guaranteed unless the Wizard acquires at least Spellbooks. Customized Wizards possessing up to Spellbooks at creation time may choose this spell as one of their default spells before starting the game, in which case the spell will already be researched and available for casting immediately on the first turn. Wizards with Spellbooks are guaranteed to have this spell available for casting as soon as the game begins. Wizards with or fewer Spellbooks who have not chosen Heroism as a guaranteed spell have a random chance of being able to Research it. The chance for this spell to appear increases with the number of Spellbooks the Wizard possesses or obtains during gameplay. With Spellbooks, the spell is guaranteed to appear for Research if it is not already available for casting. Heroism has a base Research Cost of . With at least Spellbook, the Heroism spell may be acquired as a reward for winning encounters in creature Lairs, Towers, et cetera, or when conquering the Fortress of a rival wizard who has already researched this spell. Strategy s with Heroism. The unit gains additional baseline stats as if it had been boosted from Recruit to Elite.]] Due to the bonuses bestowed by having a higher Experience Level, Heroism is a very powerful and relatively cheap Unit Enchantment. It is primarily important when bringing in fresh new Normal Units, who are normally very underpowered while building up their Experience points. A new low-tier Normal Unit with Heroism cast upon it can be a solid match against a mid-tier unit, or possibly even a low-tier Fantastic Unit. The lower the unit's level, the more benefit you get from casting Heroism upon it. Casting this spell on a "Veteran" unit, especially when its Experience points are close to 120, is a waste. On the other hand, a "Recruit" unit targeted by Heroism gets a ton of bonuses, which could help it survive subsequent battles and thus ensure that it actually makes it to "Elite" level on its own merit. To conserve you may wish to remove Heroism yourself when its benefits no longer justify its Upkeep Costs. Still, the difference in combat performance between a "Veteran" unit and an "Elite" unit are substantial, including among others a , so this decision depends largely on whether or not you are short on . Heroism can have a particularly drastic effect on your first in the game's earliest stages. A Warlord-type wizard can use it overland to instantly achieve the level. Known Bugs It may happen that an enemy Wizard casts Heroism on a Fantastic Unit on the overland map, although Heroism can be cast only on Normal Units. In this case the Fantastic Unit will gain , , , , , and . There is an order of evaluation problem with heroism cast in combat vs out of combat. If cast out of combat, the unit is raised to and then Warlord and Crusade bonuses are applied, allowing the unit to increase to or . In combat, Heroism is applied last, and thus maximum level is . If you reverse your own Heroism spell on the overland map, the effect will still stay until the end of your round. This allows you to enter a battle with a unit without having to worry that the enemy Wizard may dispel your Heroism spell. If cast in combat, Hero Abilities will not be improved. If cast out of combat, they will. Category:Unit Enchantments Category:Life Category:Buggy Features